<\/p>\n
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) – Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion who won more races than anyone across NASCAR\u2019s three national series, has died. He was 41.<\/p>\n
The Busch Family, Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR issued a joint statement Thursday saying that Busch died after being hospitalized. No cause of death was given.<\/p>\n
Busch\u2019s family said earlier Thursday that he was hospitalized with a \u201csevere illness,\u201d three days before he was to compete at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Busch was the younger brother of Kurt Busch, a NASCAR Hall of Famer.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur entire NASCAR family is heartbroken by the loss of Kyle Busch,\u201d the statement said. \u201cA future Hall of Famer, Kyle was a rare talent, one who comes along once in a generation. He was fierce, he was passionate, he was immensely skilled and he cared deeply about the sport and fans.<\/p>\n
The statement went on to say that \u201cthroughout a career that spanned more than two decades, Kyle set records in national series wins, won championships at NASCAR\u2019s highest level and fostered the next generation of drivers as an owner in the Truck Series. His sharp wit and competitive spirit sparked a deep emotional connection with race fans of every age, creating the proud and loyal \u2018Rowdy Nation.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The news comes 11 days after Busch radioed into his crew near the end of a Cup Series race at Watkins Glen asking a doctor to give him a \u201cshot\u201d after he finished the race. According to the TV broadcast, Busch had been struggling with a sinus cold that was exacerbated by the intense G-forces and elevation changes at the New York road course.<\/p>\n
Busch finished the race in eighth place.<\/p>\n
Busch competed at Dover last weekend and won the Trucks Series race for Richard Childress Racing. He finished 17th at the NASCAR All-Star race.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolute shock. Very hard to process,\u201d veteran NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski posted on social media.<\/p>\n
NASCAR driver and former teammate Denny Hamlin posted on social media: \u201cAbsolutely cannot comprehend this news. We just need to think of his family during this time. We love you KB.\u201d<\/p>\n
A polarizing figure known as \u201cRowdy\u201d and \u201cWild Thing\u201d for his post-race fights, regular feuds with other drivers and sometimes outlandish behavior, the multi-talented Busch stormed on the Cup Series scene in 2005 by winning Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n
He went on to win championships in 2015 and 2019 for Joe Gibbs Racing.<\/p>\n
From Las Vegas, Busch experienced unrivaled success across NASCAR\u2019s three national series winning a combined 234 Cup, O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts and Trucks Series races. He had 63 Cup victories along with 102 O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts wins and 69 Trucks victories – both records.<\/p>\n
Kyle Busch was said to be ready to race at NASCAR\u2019s top level at 16, but a cigarette settlement banned his debut and he had to wait until he was a 18. At the time Kurt Busch said \u201cif you think I\u2019m good, wait until you see my brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Busch is survived by his wife Samantha and children Brexton and Lennix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) – Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion who won more races than anyone across NASCAR\u2019s three national series, has died. He was 41. The Busch Family, Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR issued a joint statement Thursday saying that Busch died after being hospitalized. No cause of death was given. Busch\u2019s family<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[9571,9575,9573,4168,9574,9572],"class_list":["post-28930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jesus","tag-2time","tag-busch","tag-champ","tag-died","tag-kyle","tag-nascar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}